HER MOTHER'S WARNING REPLAYED on a continuous loop inside her head as she strolled up to Winter Bay on Monday morning. Fog settled over the high school, smothering it in a haze. Her boots echoed over the cracked sidewalk, sidestepping faint puddles from the night's rainfall. Indistinct chatter grew closer as she neared the front entrance to her personal hell. Everything that day was set up for her to strike.
Yet she had promised her mother.
Her sharp tongue would stay dormant that day.
But that day, she would face Ms. Stanford after her escapade from rehearsals. She dreaded the inevitable words out of her English teacher's mouth. She thought about skipping, but knew that wouldn't help her case. Something told her Ms. Stanford didn't mind putting in a few words so she couldn't graduate.
She pushed open the doors only to immediately face Lindsey and Flora as they traveled with their flock of school athletes.
"Well, if it isn't the coward," Lindsey said. Her words caught many people's attention. "Always running away from your problems, hm?" Flora laughed beside her.
Scarlet rolled her eyes. No matter how hard she tried to spin that day in her favor, it truly wasn't going her way.
"I have no idea what you're talking about, Lindsey," Scarlet said. It came out as an exasperation. The people watching snickered, siding with her. Most of Winter Bay knew that Lindsey was full of crap.
"Oh, so you running out from the auditorium doesn't ring a bell?" Lindsey looked over at Flora. "You left poor Jake with a frown on his face." She stepped closer to her, and the overpowering scent of expensive perfume wafted over her. "Luckily, he had me to cheer him up."
Her icy eyes flashed, and Scarlet resisted the urge to strike. It was so easy. Jake had already handed over the weapon weeks prior. Would she wield it in front of the school?
It was tempting to bring down the weapon over the vulture's head. Her mother's voice whispered that halting warning in her head, so she stepped away, rolling her eyes again at the insanity of it all.
Here Scarlet was dealing with her mother in a hospital with leukemia and had contracted an infection. Stupid high school drama shouldn't distract her from reality. There were more important things to life than fighting... over a guy.
A guy who was not a toy to fight over.
Scarlet sighed. "I truly do not care, Lindsey."
She could tell Lindsey wanted to retort with something else. Her exaggerated posture and pursed lips showed the desperation in her, but Scarlet wasn't going to let her have that luxury. She could enjoy materialistic luxuries all she liked, but Scarlet would never allow her to enjoy how her words affected her.
Lindsey could go cry in her Prada shoes, or whatever.
Students nodded at her in respect, others in wonder. She believed some were confused over the mention of Jake. No one knew of a Jake in their class, or at least someone known in the school. If Lindsey knew him, then he must have been someone from the rich side, and that screamed Preppy status. And Scarlet wasn't one to go dip into the Preppies. That was more so expected from Lindsey and Flora.
She flicked her hair over her shoulder—a Lindsey move—and trudged forward. People made way for her as everyone looked for their first period classroom. For the first time in ages, she arrived early. She was not going to let the vultures set her back from achieving her small success.
Elliot stood by a water fountain, close to the scene. They made eye contact, and she gulped before turning away. Their afternoon plagued her mind. When she shut her eyes tight, he was there on top of her, doing everything she liked.
YOU ARE READING
Forever Crimson
Teen Fiction"The vultures are disguised as humans." Scarlet Turner has her last semester of high school planned out: graduate as best as she can and take care of her sick mother. But when she's told she won't graduate because of the pile of tardies she's collec...
